The Fundamentals of Metallurgyby sandra snider12/09/2007 / Christian Living

Iron shapens iron. And dust sharpens dust.

Impossible, you say. But with God all things are possible.

Iron is an enigma. It rusts easily, yet is the most important of all metals. It's an essential element for all forms of life. Job 28:2 informs us that iron is taken from the earth, literally, from the dust. Dust is the most basic elemental component of iron. We, too, are dust, according to Psalm 103:13. It's comforting to know that God knows our frame and remembers that we're but dust.

So when Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend," the mere dust of our clay vessels is used by God in His shop of metallurgy to hone and sharpen. The Lord uses powdery earth to chisel. God uses people, like dusty you and baked clay me, to alter, change and modify our earthen rough edges in order to bring the image of the Lord Jesus into sharper focus.

A fundamental metallurgical principle in God's kingdom is that He uses other people and the substance of our frail humanity, indeed the very grave (ashes to ashes, dust to dust) to bring wonderful change and transformation into our lives. Praise His holy name!

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." 2 Corinthians 4:7